World Entrepreneur Of The Year

Another reason to be glad you're a trep. Come see for yourself.

Every year in Monte Carlo, EY's global Entrepreneur Of The Year winners gather to celebrate their accomplishments, be inducted into the EOY Hall of Fame and to see who among them will be named the World Entrepreneur Of The Year. It's a glittering and inspiring scene.

This year, the Global Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation was there to participate and learn what was on the minds of these amazing treps. Here's what we saw at WEOY 2013:

Amazing keynote speakers:

Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1997-2006Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, 2001Chairman, Kofi Annan FoundationChairman, Alliance for a Green Revolution in AfricaKofi both humbled and inspired us with what terrific work treps are doing to raise the standard of living in Africa – and the importance of mentoring young people as they strive to create their own businesses the world over.

Dambisa MoyoInternationally renowned economistNew York Times best-selling authorTIME Magazine's 2009 "100 Most Influential People in the World"World Economic Forum Young Global LeadersRenowned economist Dambisa Moyo informed us about the global markets and applauded treps for creating jobs (as opposed to just jumping on the aid bandwagon) in the emerging markets. Contrary to doom and gloom messages about the third world, she finds regions like Africa to be full of promise and opportunity, especially for women.

Sir Timothy Berners-LeeInventor, World Wide Web3com Founders Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Director, World wide Web Consortium (W3C)Founder, World Wide Web FoundationPresident, Open Data Institute (ODI)The father of the world wide web, Sir Timothy intrigued us on how this invention (20 years out) continues to be a natural monopoly maker and breaker – which is great news for those who can see around its next corner.

John CleeseAward winning actor, author and humorist John gave us new ways to strategize when fresh-thinking and innovation are needed within (and without) the business confines. Fun and creativity co-exist – and he should know.

Global winners and a yogurt king.

This year WEOY hosted 49 winners from 47 countries. All winners were inducted into the EOY Hall of Fame. The overall winner, the World Entrepreneur Of The Year winner, was Hamdi Ulukaya, from the US. His journey embodies a childhood on a dairy farm in eastern Turkey, to a peripatetic academic path in the US, to the purchase of a dilapidated cheese factory in upstate New York, (his friends and lawyer advised against it). That's the birth of Chobani Yogurt, growing by leaps and bounds in the US and coming soon to a corner of the universe near you. Created with a Turkish recipe, financed with US SBA-funding (one million, to be exact) and built on the American Dream.

See his heartfelt acceptance speech here:

Amaze us with what you are doing. And bring it to Monaco next year.

Learn by day from the best of the best in your industry. Network and deepen your relationships at night in this small jewel of enchantment. The magnificent Mediterranean harbor views will keep you walking and have inspired many kings and commoners before you. Meet a Prince (H.S.H. Price Albert II to be exact, who loves treps as much as we do and personally congratulated all our country winners over cocktails.) And our gala black-tie dinner will bring out your inner James Bond.

Women, we especially want you.

You're creating more jobs at home in 2013 than your male counterparts, according to our annual WEOY job creation survey. The June results were launched to great enthusiasm by EY Global Vice Chair Maria Pinelli, who believes, "Job creation just may be the world's lifeblood." Women rang in as also being more confident than men when it comes to their economic outlook.

So women, we encourage you think big. And to help you do that, consider participating in the Entrepreneurial Winning Women program which coaches women on ways to manage their businesses to grow, grow, grow.

Learn more, get nominated.

The WEOY event gets bigger and brighter every year. We encourage all treps to learn about this program and think about participating. If your company doesn't meet the guidelines yet, then set your goals on growth. Find out about nominations, and if you qualify you can nominate yourself or someone you know for your country's Entrepreneur Of The Year award. We hope it's you who will amaze us next.